Exclusive: Labour urged to come clean on ‘sectarian’ Israel boycott motion in Birmingham

The Jewish Chronicle ends the article on Lord Walney's charge that boycott campaigns fan anti-Jewish extremism, with nothing set against it. It leaves out its own earlier report that the motion cited a 2025 UN report for its genocide description, and here calls genocide only a "claim".

1. Gives a contested claim the last word

   Minor

   “these boycott campaigns that fan the flames of anti-Jewish extremism”

   Why this matters

   The JC ends the article on Lord Walney tying the councillors' vote to "anti-Jewish extremism", with nothing after it.

   The impression it gives

   That backing a review of investments in Israel feeds hatred of Jews, and that this is the settled conclusion of the story.

   The context

   Walney offers no example of the motion stirring anti-Jewish extremism. The councillors' own account, given earlier and never set against this charge, is that the motion is about ethical investment and human rights.

   How we know

   • Elsewhere in the article“sets out a wider approach to ethical investment and procurement”
   • Elsewhere in the article“It calls for public money to be used consistently with human rights”

2. Drops what it reported before

   Minor

   What is missing

   The JC reported a week earlier that the motion cited a 2025 UN report for its genocide description. Here it calls genocide only a "claim" the motion makes, so a reader believes the councillors had no finding behind the word.

   How we know

   • The Jewish Chronicle wrote earlier“citing a disputed UN report from 2025”‘Disgusting sectarianism’: Birmingham council slammed for anti-Israel divestment vote (opens in a new tab)
   • On the recordA UN Commission of Inquiry has found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.ohchr.org (opens in a new tab)

   Show where it belongs